How does roaming work on DMR

[razorseal]

Looking at a Hytera PD-682G... I really like the concept of setting all repeaters and have it roam into a repeater it can hear. Really sounds like set and forget as long as you're within a repeater.

I believe the way it works is the repeater sends a beacon signal every x seconds and the HT listens to this beacon, it then picks the one with the strongest rssi beacon and will tune to it (as long as it's programmed in).

Now my question is, do all DMR repeaters (BM, Marc etc) support this, or is this a feature the repeater has to have in order to make this work.

It sounds like a game changer to me... Can someone elaborate?

Thanks!

 

[timkilbride]

The repeater needs to be setup to beacon. This may be a feature that needs enabled from the manufacturer. Every 60 seconds for 4320ms is what DMR-MARC and Brandmeister are using for the beacon. I suspect other networks may be using the same. The radio will not start roaming until the per-programmed signal threshold is met. My radio's doesn't start roaming until the signal reaches -103dbm.

Tim

 

[razorseal]

The repeater needs to be setup to beacon. This may be a feature that needs enabled from the manufacturer. Every 60 seconds for 4320ms is what DMR-MARC and Brandmeister are using for the beacon. I suspect other networks may be using the same. The radio will not start roaming until the per-programmed signal threshold is met. My radio's doesn't start roaming until the signal reaches -103dbm.

Tim

How do I know if the repeater offers this? common feature most have? contact repeater owner to find out? something that's posted on the repeater info page on rfinder etc?

Thanks!

 

[N4KVE]

I believe it is only for a linked repeater system. Here in Florida, there is a linked system all over the state. Whatever conversation is on TS1 on 1 repeater is on all of them. Same for TS2. So this way you don't have to keep flipping the ch knob. There are a few smaller [3 or 4] repeater systems between Palm Beach, & Miami which also carry the same conversations on all the repeaters which are linked. That's what roaming is for. It is for connecting linked repeaters. Only Motorola, & Hytera radios offer this feature.

 

[razorseal]

I believe it is only for a linked repeater system. Here in Florida, there is a linked system all over the state. Whatever conversation is on TS1 on 1 repeater is on all of them. Same for TS2. So this way you don't have to keep flipping the ch knob. There are a few smaller [3 or 4] repeater systems between Palm Beach, & Miami which also carry the same conversations on all the repeaters which are linked. That's what roaming is for. It is for connecting linked repeaters. Only Motorola, & Hytera radios offer this feature.

Thanks. I'm in Palm Beach County as well so that's good to know. What radio do you use? I could use your help programming lol

 

[N4KVE]

Motorola XPR7550, & 3500 portables, & XPR4550 mobile. Also Hytera PD782. Glad to help if you have similar radios. Can't help with The Dollar Store radios.

 

[Kirk]

FYI when a radio roams, it doesn't look for the strongest signal, it just looks for the next repeater in the list that meets the minimum RSSI criteria.

 

[razorseal]

Motorola XPR7550, & 3500 portables, & XPR4550 mobile. Also Hytera PD782. Glad to help if you have similar radios. Can't help with The Dollar Store radios.

I have a hytera pdr682 coming. Should be identical for programing for your pd782.

I do have a gd 77 coming which is an inexpensive dual band dmr, but I'll try to tackle that myself. They're similar concepts with channels talk groups and all.

Never needed help with the analog stuff, but this dmr stuff is confusing to grasp at 1st

I'll shoot you a PM.

 

[razorseal]

FYI when a radio roams, it doesn't look for the strongest signal, it just looks for the next repeater in the list that meets the minimum RSSI criteria.

Ah. Gotcha. I assume that rssi is set in programming. I guess since digital, as long as the signal is satisfactory/sufficient, it doesn't really matter.

 

[Kirk]

I'm not familiar with Hytera, but yes on Motorola you set minimum RSSI thresholds on either a per roam list or per channel basis.

 

[N4GIX]

I believe it is only for a linked repeater system. Here in Florida, there is a linked system all over the state.

Here in Indiana the Hoosier DMR Network is set up for roaming. Up until a few months ago, there were 32 repeaters in the network. Unfortunately "politics" reared its ugly head and the net split into two factions.

Or more accurately, the southern two-thirds of the state filed for divorce and went to Brandmeister, with the remaining ones sticking with DMR-Marc.

However roaming remains active on each of the two networks.

 

[razorseal]

Here in Indiana the Hoosier DMR Network is set up for roaming. Up until a few months ago, there were 32 repeaters in the network. Unfortunately "politics" reared its ugly head and the net split into two factions.

Or more accurately, the southern two-thirds of the state filed for divorce and went to Brandmeister, with the remaining ones sticking with DMR-Marc.

However roaming remains active on each of the two networks.

So we have multiple DVs which can't really talk to each other, and then on top of that, we have multiple networks within DVs that don't play with each other.

HF is where it's at. Maybe that should be my next investment LOL

 

[N4KVE]

HF is where it's at. Maybe that should be my next investment LOL

It is the real deal.

 

[razorseal]

So gigabit got me a feature update/upgrade from Hytera. Hytera made a feature update file specific to my radio. I installed the roaming feature and figured out how to make it work on CPS...

What an awesome feature. I ended up changing how my zones work now. I had them setup by repeater, so I'd have my zone in the area I was working in. Now I just have 1 digital channel zone and have only channels from 1 repeater (doesn't matter which). Once I'm in that zone, the radio just picks up the repeater it seems good enough so I can transmit. Really changed how I work the radio. It's what I've been looking for. This alone makes the radio better than the non roaming stuff. I will make a youtube video to show how roaming is done tonight or tomorrow.

 

[Project25_MASTR]

Roaming varies by manufacturer. Some rely on beaconing from the repeaters (which isn't part of the Tier II spec, so just keep that in mind) while others (such as Simoco's radios) utilize subscriber based Voting (similar to Motorola's Conventional Voting Scan). Now I know with Motorola, 16 sites was the limit for a roam list.

 

[N5ICK]

Kenwood offers the roaming feature on the NX5000 series radios as well.

 

[JASII]

How Does Roaming Work On DMR?

It looks like the Anytone AT-D878UV has that, too. It sounds like a great feature.